Franklin Templeton & Ondo Finance Launch 24/7 Tokenized ETFs in Crypto Wallets

• Lyla Velez
• March 25, 2026
• Investment
• 0 Comments

Franklin Templeton, the $1.7 trillion asset manager, has partnered with Ondo Finance to launch tokenized versions of five ETFs that trade around the clock directly in crypto wallets. The deal marks the first time a top-10 global asset manager has co-launched on-chain ETF wrappers with a DeFi-native issuer at this scale, spanning U.S. equities, fixed income, and gold exposure.

Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance: Inside the Tokenized ETF Partnership

The partnership pairs Franklin Templeton’s institutional credibility with Ondo Finance’s blockchain infrastructure. Ondo, which has accumulated $2.69 billion in total value locked and runs a tokenized securities platform with over 60,000 users, purchases Franklin Templeton ETF shares through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and issues blockchain tokens representing economic exposure to those funds.

Five ETFs are included in the initial launch: FFOG (gold), FLQL, FDGL, FLHY, and INCE. Together they cover U.S. equities, fixed income, and gold, giving crypto-native investors diversified exposure to traditional asset classes without a brokerage account.

Token holders receive pass-through economic exposure to the ETF returns but do not own the underlying ETF shares directly. Franklin Templeton serves as the trust anchor, managing the funds while Ondo handles the on-chain issuance and distribution layer through its existing protocol infrastructure.

“These ETFs represent a good mix of different exposures. And it gives a good test case for us to see what is really striking the appetite to this new audience,” said Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton’s Head of Digital Asset Innovation, in an interview with CoinDesk.

Franklin Templeton is no newcomer to blockchain. The firm already operates the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (known as the BENJI token), its Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) with $437 million in AUM, and an Ethereum ETF (EZET) holding $42 million.

How 24/7 Tokenized ETF Trading Works for Crypto Wallet Holders

Traditional ETFs trade on regulated exchanges for roughly 6.5 hours per weekday. Outside those hours, investors face after-hours pricing gaps and settlement delays that can stretch to T+1 or T+2. Tokenized ETFs on blockchain rails eliminate both constraints.

With the tokenized versions, investors holding self-custody or custodial crypto wallets can buy, sell, and transfer ETF tokens at any hour, any day. The tokens live on-chain, which also opens DeFi composability, allowing holders to potentially use their tokenized ETF positions as collateral in lending protocols.

The key distinction from holding a traditional ETF: investors interact with their wallet rather than a brokerage. There is no need for a securities account. However, token holders bear counterparty exposure to the SPV structure, since they hold economic rights rather than direct ETF ownership.

The initial rollout targets investors in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The U.S. is excluded from launch, pending SEC regulatory clarity on how third parties can distribute registered investment funds on-chain. In December 2025, Ondo Finance submitted a roadmap for tokenized securities to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force.

What This Partnership Signals for the RWA Market

The broader tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market has grown to approximately $15 billion in total assets. Ethereum alone hosts over $13 billion in tokenized assets as of March 2026.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund leads the space with $2.03 billion in tokenized assets, but it focuses on money market and treasury products. The Franklin Templeton/Ondo deal is differentiated by offering equity, fixed income, and gold ETF exposure, not just money markets, with self-custody wallet access and 24/7 DeFi composability.

Ondo Finance itself has built significant scale. Its Global Markets platform reports over $12 billion in cumulative trading volume across 60,000 users since launching in September 2025, with $710 million in Global Markets AUM. The ONDO token currently trades near $0.26 with a market cap of roughly $1.2 billion, though it has declined 13% over the past seven days amid a broader market downturn.

The crypto market sits in extreme fear, with the Fear and Greed Index at 11 out of 100, the 46th consecutive day below 25. Despite that sentiment, institutional RWA tokenization deals continue to advance. The NYSE-Securitize partnership for 24/7 tokenized securities trading represents a parallel effort, though it does not yet offer ETF-level packaged exposure to crypto-native wallets.

Regulatory clarity remains the key variable. The U.S. market, the world’s largest for ETFs, is still off-limits for this product. If the SEC provides a framework for third-party on-chain distribution of registered funds, the addressable market for tokenized ETFs could expand dramatically.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.